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Women, Peace and Security

Established international norms and standards promote the protection of women during armed conflict and their participation in peace and security decision-making. The UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (UNSCR 1325) is one of the critical tools for moving the gender equality agenda forward in conflict and postconflict situations.

On Monday, Liberia inaugurated a new president and the nation’s first female vice president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ended her presidency the way she began it—shattering precedent. The first woman to be elected president of an African nation has become the first Liberian president in 44 years to...

On 25 October, women leaders and experts gathered at the UN Headquarters to discuss issues of masculinities, violence against women, and women’s participation in peace and justice in transitional societies. With 2 billion people across 35 countries and territories affected by fragility, conflict...

African advocates, pioneers, and thought leaders of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, together with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, took stock of the achievements and challenges for women building sustainable peace on the continent at a high-level event on 22 September during the...

The African Union Commission, UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and the Government of Germany are organizing a high-level “Women Leaders Forum for Africa’s Transformation.” The forum is scheduled to take place at the United Nations Headquarters in...

Ikram Ben Said is a women’s rights advocate and Founder of “Aswat Nissa” (Voices of Women), a Tunisian nonprofit promoting women’s active participation in the political and policy-making spheres while fighting against all forms of discriminations and violence against women. Her latest initiative “...

The women, peace and security UN Security Council resolutions poster provides a helpful overview of each of the eight resolutions, and pulls out key provisions for each resolution. The poster is an informational resource which can be used by experts and non-experts alike to help explain and...

By Sophie Kemkhadze, UNDP Nepal Country Director
Ten years have passed since Nepal ended its decade-long conflict. These last ten years have been not only an opportunity for Nepal to build and maintain peace, but it’s been a time of reflection and transformation.
One vital reflection is that women...

Women and Political Transition: The Risk of Replicating Inequality and the Fundamental Need for Gender Parity in Decision-Making

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) includes gender equality and women’s empowerment programming as a key facet of its democracy-building work in countries transitioning from violent conflict to more stable political processes. IFES has programs on the ground in flashpoint...

Maldives: Workshop on women’s participation and leadership in peace and security

The United Nations in Maldives and the UN Women Multi-Country Office for India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka organized a workshop to discuss women’s participation and leadership in peace and security based on the principles of the historic UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Under the title “...

Preventing and Responding to Violent Extremism in Africa: A Development Approach

With a special attention to gender, this four-year regional development project is designed to strengthen the development responses to mitigate the growth of violent extremism in Africa.
This focus is motivated by the ever-increasing presence of violent extremist groups on African soil. Violent...

The SDGs and Prevention for Sustaining Peace: Exploring the Transformative Potential of the Goal on Gender Equality

With the adoption of the General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on sustaining peace and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a multilateral policy consensus is emerging around a common vision for peaceful societies. Building and promoting positive peace, rather than containing...

US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, talks about combining Diplomacy and Motherhood

At 42, Samantha Power became the youngest person to be appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Now, she is a powerful force in steering America’s foreign policy and dictating intervention abroad. “My style in diplomacy is my style as a human being—I’m very direct and very honest,” she says...

IPI's Conversations on Prevention for Sustaining Peace: Exploring the Transformative Potential of the Sustainable Development Goal on Gender Equality

The concept of sustaining peace—as enshrined in the identical General Assembly/Security Council resolutions of April 27, 2016—offers a new consensus and vision for the UN’s work, in which prevention plays a central role. Prevention continues, however, to be defined negatively, largely by its...

Across peace and development initiatives, the exclusion of women comes at a high cost. Without women’s equal participation, peace agreements are more fragile, peacekeeping missions are less credible and safe, and economies are less prosperous.
A recent report from the United Nations Development...

The Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM) is a project of the International Peace Institute (IPI). It asks: How can the UN-based multilateral system be made more “fit for purpose”? In answering that question, the ICM has analyzed fifteen topics. These include armed conflict, humanitarian...

Unpacking Gender: The Humanitarian Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan

With no political solution on the horizon to end the conflict in Syria, it is clear that humanitarian agencies must continue to prepare for a protracted conflict. In late 2013, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) undertook an extensive literature review and a month-long field assessment in Jordan...

War disproportionately affects women, so why so few female peacekeepers?

As atrocities mount in South Sudan, with reports of government and non-government soldiers killing and raping, the UK is preparing to send peacekeeping troops there. How will the UN peacekeeping summit, hosted this week in London, make maintaining peace and security more effective, in particular...

ISIS Terror Against Women: Trauma expert on mission to record ISIS horror stories

Abu Chiad boasted about beheading infidels, raping women and children and slaughtering in the name of Islam. Speaking from a prison in the city of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, he told Dr. Jan Kizilhan that these acts would get him to heaven.
Kizilhan, 49, a German of Kurdish background, is a...